My Soul Is A Baby Content
As I held the soft hands of 91 year old Betty Skinner, she said something like this, "Sue, I really love this season in my life. There is little I need to do each day. I have many hours to pray, to read, to commune with God. This is a sweet, sweet season. But I must tell you, I miss the years of teaching and leading spiritual retreats. Those years were such fun. And [...]
Thank Our Restorative God
Good morning... Yesterday Ben DeShetler's Caring Bridge post was short, simple, smiling: "Still NED! In case you haven't heard, Audrey is still NED!!! We are still waiting on the bone marrow results but they said probably not to worry. I'll post more later as I find out." On 4.13.17, my "Fab 5 friends" post told the story of my lifelong journey with my friend Jennifer who walks beside her daughter Audrey (11) as she [...]
Serving God’s Fresh Punch
Good morning... My forever writer-friend emailed me. "Loved your post about tweaking your final tweet. We are in constant edit mode, aren't we, as we listen harder, hear more? Reading a book of poems called A Maze Me: Poems for Girls by Naomi Shihab Nye this morning and loved this one. I thought you would, too. ****** Because of Poems Words have secret parties. Verbs, adjectives, and nouns meet outside their usual boundaries, wearing [...]
God’s Presence In Dancing Petals
Happy Easter... My friend experienced Julie's presence the day of her passing. I asked her to write the memory for me so I could share it with you. Here is her story. "I went outside to tell my husband what I’d just learned about Julie dying… I was crying and trying to talk... Right as I spoke our fully bloomed and beautiful cherry trees started to gently move and I felt this chill of [...]
God’s Peace Surpasses
Good morning... Now is about the time when those grieving the loss of our friend Julie are tempted to slip into deep despair. This situation will never change. She is never coming back to us. The high of celebrating her life has dropped down into the relentless ache of physically missing her. One friend who lost her brother way too early sent me a text the day before Julie's memorial service. "Hey just wanted [...]
God Guards Our Hurting Hearts
Good morning... After yesterday's post about my friend Jennifer and her daughter's cancer battle, a subscriber wrote: "I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes after reading about your friend’s sweet child and this email that I read next was just what I needed. I wanted to share it with you and let you know that I will also be praying for Audrey." She shared with me the Girlfriends in [...]
“Fab 5” Friendship
Good morning... For years and years I have loved my friend Jennifer. Quiet and quirky. Compassionate and crazy bright. Jennifer and I met in Bible study when her son and daughter were toddlers. God joined us for divine reasons invisible back then. I remember when Jennifer told me that her five year old Audrey was limping a lot on Halloween night, limping so much she wanted to end candy collection early, an unheard of [...]
My Edited Tweet
Good morning... The joy and pain of being a writer is an incessant obsession with choosing the perfect word. It is hard for my mind to rest when my soul continues to wonder, "What changes might make my final tweet truer, better, more impactful?" So it did not surprise me that after yesterday's post, I spent some time pondering, "God, what final edits would you make?" The word that came to my heart was [...]
My Final Tweet
Good morning... Accepting my son's invitation from yesterday morning, I have prayerfully pondered my final tweet. Even though I have never tweeted before in my life, if given 140 characters, I might send this final tweet to the world. God made us unique, loves us just as we are. Jesus died for each sin, frees, leads, heals whole. Spirit grows in us lasting fruit for all. Walk & talk with God. Now & forever. [...]
Heaven’s King-sized Bed
Good morning... The night before the memorial service, I had an intense dream. It was like I was traveling through an invisible, physical barrier between earth and heaven. I felt as if I was in one of those airplane movies where people hold on for dear life and their faces contort in unimaginable ways as they fight through strong, G-force resistance. In the dream, my body tensed and tightened, holding on for dear life, [...]
In God’s Largeness, Nothing Gets Lost
Good morning... A few days back, a sobering announcement came into my blog email. It took away my breath and brought me to tears. Your list has lost a subscriber: Julie Harlan. I thought to myself, "What an understatement. We have lost much more than a subscriber." Julie was a devoted wife and mother, a beloved daughter and friend, a trustworthy co-worker and spiritual mentor. At her core, she was a flamboyant follower of [...]
A Sacred Shift
Good morning... The scheduled speaker reached out to me, asking if I would be a part of Tuesday's Lovett Moms in Prayer gathering, a group Julie Harlan had helped to facilitate weekly since her oldest son was in kindergarten. She emailed: "It should be a morning of celebrating our sweet Julie with prayer and you were so close to her. Some of our Lovett mothers may be asking "Why?" Your presence with wise counsel [...]